


Omission

by talefeathers



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Angst, Arguing, Canon Rewrite, Drabble, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Swearing, Writing Exercise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-21 23:35:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15568839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talefeathers/pseuds/talefeathers
Summary: Dick confronts Bruce after learning of Jason's death.





	Omission

The thunder of a motorcycle ripped through the Batcave, followed by Dick Grayson’s voice, just as loud.

“ _BRUCE!_ ”

“Master Dick, please, allow me to -–”

Bruce looked up from his computer in time to watch Dick wrench his arm from Alfred’s grip.

“No,” Dick growled, rounding on the old butler and jabbing a finger into his chest. “You don’t get to fucking placate me. Neither of you do.”

“That’s enough,” Bruce said, standing.

“Like hell it is!” Dick spat, moving so that his face, a vicious snarl behind Nightwing’s mask, was inches from Bruce’s own. “Why don’t you go ahead and tell me where Jason is, huh?”

Bruce felt his jaw tighten.

“It sounds to me like you already know,” he said coolly.

“Now, how on earth would that be?” Dick asked, voice rising in both volume and pitch. “Alfred didn’t tell me. You sure as hell didn’t tell me. Clearly, no one thought I needed to know. That I might _want_ to know.”

“Like I said, you managed to find out, regardless,” Bruce said. “It seems to me that the point is moot.”

“No,” Dick said again. “No, I’m sorry, Bruce, but that’s not gonna be good enough. I want to hear you say it. I want you to fucking look at me and tell me what happened to my brother, like you should have a week ago.”

“Your brother,” Bruce scoffed. “You left this family, Dick. Or don’t you remember?”

“Because of shit like this!” Dick shouted. “Because you shut me out! Because I was your partner for eight years, and it hasn’t earned me an inch of your trust, an inch of your respect, or even, hell, just your –- compassion.”

Dick’s voice broke over that final word, but Bruce didn’t flinch, and he didn’t avert his gaze when Dick’s eyes filled with furious tears. He felt it, though, in spite of himself; he felt Dick’s pain like a well-placed punch to the gut.

“I loved him, too, God damn it,” Dick rasped. “I was an ass when you first took him on, but you know I loved him, too. And that should have outweighed all this bullshit between us.”

Dick shook his head and removed his mask, rubbing his eyes with a laugh that sounded like a sob.

“I thought I’d earned that much, at least,” he said.

For a moment, Bruce wasn’t sure what was going to happen. Dick stared at the floor between them, jaw locked and eyes glistening, and Bruce wanted, for a desperate instant, to pull his head onto his shoulder. To drape his cape around Dick like a blanket, the way he’d done when he was a kid. To apologize.

But the moment passed, and Bruce knew he couldn’t afford to let Dick back in. Not after what had happened to Jason. He couldn’t risk any more blood on his hands.

“Fine,” Dick said, once it was clear Bruce wasn’t going to speak. He sniffled and settled his mask back over his eyes. “Fine. I see how it is.”

He turned back the way he had come, clasping Alfred briefly on the shoulder as he made his way back toward his motorcycle.

“Take care of yourself, Al,” he said.

“Master Dick –-”

But Dick mounted his bike and gunned the engine, and the words died in Alfred’s throat.


End file.
